The Dallas daily herald. [volume] (Dallas, Tex.) 1873-1887, 1887-11-21
Scientific Miscellany.

In the Bodlcian Library, at Oxford
faded ink on parchment, ETC.. is restor
cd by means of solution of hydrosul
phide of ammonia.
A prize of $500 has been offered foi
tho production of the best practical
elementary text book of tropical agr
culture specially applicable to Jamaica,
manuscripts to be submitted to the
government of Jamaica on or before
August l, 1888.
Prof. Tumas, European physiolo'
gist has shown that vomiting Is the re-.
suit of irritation OF space in the
medulla oblongata about one-fifth Of
an inch long and one-twefth wide, and
believes that tho brains OF ruminants
rodents and other nom vomiting ami.
mails lack this vomiting center"
GEOGRAPHICAL HAzINEss. "A sur
prising ignorance in geographical mat.
ters prevails even among people of cul-
ture. Many examples of this have
been lately collected by Colonel Sir
Charles Warren. In one case an edu-
Gated surveyor could not free himself
of the idea that Paris was north Of
London, and another located the west
end of London toward the eastern
coast. Out of thirty well-instructcd
men, from eighteen to twenty years
old, about eighteen were under the i'm.
preston that while the sun rises in the
east, the stars rise in the west.
SOUNDING BY SOUND. On some parts
of the coast of Sumatra and the neigh.
boring islands, writes Mr.. w. Mattieu
Williams, the fishermen test the depth
of the sea, and also the nature of the
sea bottom, by the noises they hear on
applying the ear to one end of an oar
of which the other end is plunged in the
water. At depth of twenty feet and
less, the sound is crepitation. similar
TO that produced when salt is thrown on
burning charcoal at fifty feet it is like
the ticking of n watch, the tick-tack
being more or less rapid, according to
whether the bottom is entirely of coral
or alternately of coral and mud, or OF
sand. If the bottom is entirely of sand,
the sound is clear; if of mud. it resem'
bes the humming of a swarm of bees.
On dark nights the fishermen select
their fishery grounds according to these
indications.
KNOWLEDGE Is HEALTH. AT the re.
cent hygenic congress in Vienna, Herr
Won Petlenkofcr urged the Importance
of a more general teaching in the pub.
lie schools of the influence of air, water
and soil On tho public health. What
scientific hygiene has accomplished was
illustrated by the case of London.
where, in the seventeenth century, with
less than 1000. 600 inhabitants, the av.
erage death-rate was AZ per 1000 per
year; while now, with a population of
1000, 900, it is less than II per 1000.
That is, science has more than doubled
the average life of the Londoner. In
the Crimean war, Tho French lost %, e.
900 men, of whom only 1000 were
killed, while $4,000 died from disease.
In the Franco-German war, the effect
of hygienic teaching in the military
schools was already apparent, for out
of total loss to the German army OF
40, 1881, there were only 12,2S2 deaths
from disease.
A TREE COVERING MANY ACRES
The banyan tree is one OF the re-
markable products OF the East Indies.
Its life is usually begun from minute
seed dropped by some bird upon some
other plant, such as the wild date.
which it brushes as 1t grows. Every
branch from the main body throws out
its own roots. which constantly thick
ening, descend to the ground several
yards below, where they strike in, in
crease to large trunks, and send out
new branches from their tops, which
in turn repeat the process. The pc.
tanic garden at Calcutta contains a
great banyan, now about century old.
which has parent trunk AZ feet in cir
conference, 232 root-trunks ranging
from few inches to foot around.
with vast leafy crown 857 feet in Cir
conference. Near the hill fort of
Wv satgorh. in the Bombay presidency,
Is a banyan whose top in 1882 measur-
ed .5S7 feet in circumference. Other
specimens greatly exceed even this
prodigious size. single trees being said
to cover thirteen acres The famous
banyan under which Alexander the
Great stopped. on the banks of the
Nerbudda, once sheltered 1000 men.
and when seen by FORBES generation
ago, though much reduced in size by
floods. was still nearly 1000 feet in
circumference. and had more than
5000 trunks. - Compiled for The Arkan.